


Better Life

by sharpegaga



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-16 02:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18086096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharpegaga/pseuds/sharpegaga
Summary: To protect their daughter, Mia Smoak, Oliver and Felicity made the only choice they could. They leave their 3-day old baby in the hands of a good friend, Sara Lance, and her girlfriend, Ava Sharpe, as well as the rest of the legends.





	1. Origins

_Star City 2019_

“Oliver, we can’t keep her here its too dangerous for her”

“We can’t just give her away like we did to William! She is our daughter”

“She makes us vulnerable” there was a slight sigh come from Felicity as she said the four words she wanted for a while, “even when I was just pregnant, she made us worry, we need her to go somewhere safe.”  
There was part of Oliver that new she was right, god she was always right, just now it was about their daughter’s future. He finally opens his mouth to say something but before he could fill the silence his wife spoke up.

“I know it will be hard but it’s the best thing for Mia.”

“where do expect to be safe in Star City?”

“I wasn’t thinking of here as such”

“we can’t expect Barry and Iris to look after her, Central Cit…. WAIT, you weren’t thinking of a certain time ship? THAT IS OUT OF THE QUESTION” the frustration taking over his body as he starts to pace around their apartment.

“it’s the only people WE can trust to raise our child.”

 

_Waverider – temporal zone_

  
“sorry to interrupt Captain Lance but you have an incoming message from Oliver Queen” Gideon’s voice echoes through the bridge of the ship. Sara stops briefing her team ln their next mission and tells them to head out on the jump ship, leaving only her and Ava on the bridge. Sara opens the message from Oliver that states he needs to see her immediately.

“Babe is everything okay?” Ava speaks up after the look on Sara’s face changes to a quite serious look.

“hm... yeah we just need to go to Star City, Ollie needs me…”

Ava just nods and without a thought calls out, “Gideon set a course for Star City 2019.”

 

_Back in Star City 2019_

  
The cargo doors open of the Waverider, both blondes step out of the ship to be greeted by the one and only Oliver Queen. “What’s wrong Ollie? Why did the message sound so serious?”

“well hello to you as well Sara, we need you to do something for us... something very important”  
Sara and Ava both glace at each other with a questioning look, “Just spit it out Mr Queen, what do you want from us?” Ava’s voice sounding stern yet with some degree of confusion.

A car door slams which catches the attention of all three of them, felicity walks up with baby Mia in her arms. Her face red and puffy from what looked like the face of someone who had been crying.

“We need you to take Mia” the words mumbled by felicity, while Oliver is stood next to her but unable to maintain eye contact with anyone.  
Ava grabs Sara’s arm and drags her away, just out of hearing distance of the others, “We can’t look after a child! We already have your team to look after, and that’s hard enough as it is”

“I owe Ollie though, maybe it will be good for us to have an actual child on board the ship” Sara looks back at her friends, “if you knew Ollie and Felicity like I do, you would know that this must take a lot for them or anyone to give up their child. Please Aves, let’s just to this one good deed”  
Ava takes a few minutes to ponder other her thoughts, “okay fine.” Sara just smiles and then make their way back over to the others.

“Are you sure this is what you want Ollie?”

“it’s what is best for Mia.”  
With that Felicity and Oliver take it in turns to say goodbye to their daughter. Then hands her over to Sara who smiles at the small baby in her hands, “Don’t worry we will take good care of her for you.”


	2. can we be a family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoyed chapter 1, also be kind to me as this is my first proper fic i have wrote. Also, i am aware that Oliver and Felicity wouldn't give up their child, but its a story line that would be interesting.

As the women step back on the ship, Sara cradling the small sleeping baby, "we should get Gideon to fabricated some stuff for us, because she will need somewhere to sleep" Sara mumbles as she looks down at little Mia.  "We will sort that later, but we really need to talk about this! your team will be back soon and well we now have a baby to explain" 

 

"but look how cute she is" Sara tilts the baby slightly so Ava can get a better look. She steps slightly forward, "Hold her Aves" she slowly releases the baby in to her girlfriends arms. 

Ava looks down at the child as if its an alien, "Right, rules.. we need rules Sara." looking at the little girl in Sara's arms then slowly raises her glare to Sara's face, "We must vow not to get too attached to Mia, also we can't really keep her forever... some point we will have to give her back to her parents."

 

Before the women could make any more plans there was a loud echo of arguing as the rest of the team walked through the corridors of the ship until they reached the bridge. It wasn't until Zari looked up from her tablet that she notice the small, child wrapped up in Sara,'s arms, "Sara, what is that?" stepping forward to take a closer look and poke it to the point Mia starts crying. 

"ZARI, don't poke the baby" the short blonde glares at Zari. 

"I'm sorry i just wanted to see if it was real, but wait since when did we have a baby on board?" at this point all the legends were surrounding Sara and Mia. 

"Well time for some explaining, so basically long story short Oliver and Felicity had a baby girl, her name is Mia. They wanted us to look after her and raise her because this is the only safe... ish place for her. Star City is going though a lot lately, and well they needed to do the best thing for Mia"

 "ugh i need beer," Mick grunts as he walks off. The rest stay silence for a minute while they process the news. 

"OK cool so we have a kid now" Charlie states in her thick British accent. 

"we need your help to make some sort of arrangement about Mia" 

"We should make sure that Oliver and Felicity get to see some of her growing up, do you you think 10 years old will be enough time for them. Before we you know take her back?" 

"Yeah i guess so" Sara shrugs not really up for it. 

"Wait wait wait, you're thinking of taking her back at 10 years old? Don't you think 16 or 18 years old would be better, you would be able to explain the situation better" Nate suggests. 

"no, Mia needs time with her ACTUAL parents"

"Maybe, Charlie is right, Aves... at the moment we are her family."

"Right, so we all agree not to get attached to Mia, we also agree to all play a part in her childhood, and no matter what we will tell her the truth the day after her 18th and let her find her way back to her parents."

"Agreed!" echoed as the team replied to Ava. 

"Maybe we should make a written contract?!?" A serious and stern tone comes from the tall blonde, as all eyes turn to her. 

"NO!" They all shout. 

 

_2 weeks later_

A loud cry comes from the captains quarters as the once sleeping baby now wakes, "Gideon, can you fabricate some more milk please!" Ava grumbles as she rolls out of bed to tend to the baby.  "hello little babba, do you want a cuddle? I'm guessing you want one and some milk" her long arms softly pick up and cradle Mia, bouncing her up and down a little to try stopping her crying. It was like the whole world stops every time she looks at the little bundle of joy, she never knew how much she wanted to be a mother, even though deep down she knew it wasn't her child. 

To distracted by Mia, Ava didn't realise that her girlfriend had followed her in to the kitchen, "what happened to not getting attached babe?" Sara questioned with a smile o her face as Ava jumped and turned around. "Don't worry its not a bad thing, i like it"  

"its hard not to get attached to this cute little face." Ava sighed, knowing that she was getting attached even though she really shouldn't. Grabbing the milk out of the food fabricator and putting the tip of the bottle in Mia's mouth.

"Can we be a family? I've never felt this love before... i never really thought i would get the chance because you know..."

There was a soft touch on Ava's shoulder, "I love her too, but i also love you" the soft lips of Sara pressed against Ava's cheek then on Mia's forehead. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so there was a lot of talking in this chapter, but that was what i wanted as the next chapter wont have so much. due to it being in sections


	3. Childhood is too short

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is going to be a long one! i have done it a little differently to ensure got most things in. I hope you like it. please leave comments to let me know how you like this fic/chapter.

 

 

“Gideon, please tell the full story to our readers!” Commanded Sara.

“Of course, Captain” Gideon replies

“Time has never been a problem for the Legends, until now. They have a limited amount of years to raise a child into a fine young woman. From the very beginning it was hard from them all not to get attached to Mia in their own little ways. For some it was harder than others.

The first few months they took turns to spend time with the baby and making sure she bonded with everyone especially her acting mothers, Sara and Ava. Sometimes they would think that they shouldn’t be raising another woman’s child, but they knew it was in the best interest of Mia.

One of the first milestones in Mia’s life was her first word. Around 5 months she started babbling and making little noises, other than crying. She would tend to say, ma-ma, when Ava or Sara were around. They new she was going to be advance when she said her first proper word at about 10 months.

She would always seem to listen in to the conversations the legends would have. So that leads to her saying ‘assassin’ with some difficulty. It came out more like ‘asswin’. This lead from the nickname Sara would call Mia, my little assassin. As much as Ava hated the nickname for their foster child it seemed fitting as she does have an assassin look after her.

Over a few months, Charlie tried to teach Mia British curse words, the favourite one being ‘wanker’ to much of Sara and Ava’s disapproval. One point they heard Mia call, Mick a ‘anker’ which can easily be translated.

Another word that both women thought they would not hear also came from the little child’s mouth. They were just laying on Sara’s bed with the little girl in between them playing with her toys, when she turned to Ava and said “mama” and looked at her giggling. Seconds later she looked at Sara, who started to cry. They never thought they would get attached to this little bundle of joy, but in this moment, they knew that all they felt was pure love for her.  

Mia was advanced in her speaking, but when it came to walking that came as challenge. For more than two months she was crawling with no sign of walking. Everyday Ava and Sara would take it in turns to try and get her to walk, even if it was just one step they would be happy.

Ava was getting so stressed out, she even got Zari to program me to act as a camera in every inch of the ship just, so I would be able to video it if any of them weren’t there.

The one day, no one was really paying attention to Mia but suddenly there was a giggle come from the right side of the bridge. Sara looked over to see her daughter stand up and take a step. She poked ava to gain her attention who then turn to the little girl as well. Sara had never been so proud in her life, neither showed much emotion until now where a few tears of joy escaped her eyes.

From then on little Mia was unstoppable.

 

This next part isn’t really based on Mia, but it played a huge part in her growing up.

Sara asked Ava to marry her just after Mia’s first birthday. They had just been in a massive fight against a rogue magical fugitive. Sara thought she was going to lose the love of her life, so she decided to get me to fabricate a beautiful ring. She had no clue on how she was going to do it, but she knew for sure she wanted to marry Ava.

Ava was laying on the med bay chair getting healed with Charlie next to her, who was holding Mia. Charlie wasn’t one to spend much time with the little girl as she hadn’t got use to the whole family thing, yet she still tried to reassure the little one year old that Ava would be okay. Sara looked at Charlie and nodded, with that she left Sara alone with Ava.

Ava started to come to, and she looked at Sara before noticing the ring that she was looking. There was a little gasp come from the tall blonde as she knew what was possibly going to come out of her girlfriends’ mouth. Then and there Sara said the words that Ava wanted to here for so long, “Will you marry me?” before Sara could even finish the sentence there was a ‘yes’ that escaped Ava’s mouth.

 

About a year and half later they decided to have a small wedding as it would only be the legends and Gary attending. With the help of myself, the rest of the legends had decorated the whole Waverider for the special occasion.

The two women waited for this day for so long, but they wanted to wait till Mia could fully walk so she could be their flower girl. It melted their hard as their child skipped down the aisle while sprinkling flowers around the place. Not only were they proud of her but she was at the age to be proud of the family she had. The whole day she was full of energy and just loved every moment of it.

At the age of 5 years old, Sara and Ava agreed that would be the best time for them to start home schooling Mia. Of course, both didn’t have enough academic knowledge between them, so they asked each of the legends for help in different subjects.

For the first few years they only started with just basic lessons. It took a lot of convincing and beer to get both Charlie and Mick on board to teach Mia English and writing. For the first two years they only had to teach her once a week for about two to three hours. Sara also got Ray to teach very basic science and maths twice a week for an hour. At this young age Mia really wasn’t that interested in learning. As the years went by they increased the hours of learning the main subjects as well as making the legends to slowly increase the learning from basic to other levels.

At the age of 7, they introduced Mia to history and sport. History was of course taught by Nate, who started off easy with basic history of America, such as all the presidents. Then he went on to different time periods that the legends have been to in the past. Mia’s favourite was the wild west. She also loved sport with Sara, but it was no normal sport. Every week Sara would take Mia on the jump ship to a running track, she taught her to run from danger. Other sporting activities would include small amounts of self-defense. In teen years Sara taught her different work outs to build up her strength.

Around the age of 12, Ava thought it would be best for Mia to have a bit of normalcy, she would take her to the time bureau once a week to teach her how to run a business as well as basic business skills. Also, around this time Zari stepped up and started to teach Mia some advanced tech skills and hacking, as thought she had a keen eye to it just like Felicity.

As briefly mention before, Sara started sports and self-defense that soon advanced when she started training her daughter to fight and spar at the age of 12.

Before I get in to that let me just go back to the time when Mia was about 7 years old and intrigued by Sara’s weapons that stood proudly in a glass cabinet in her quarters. There was one weapon that caught her intention, the black star shaped knifes, that are sharp to the touch. The one day one of them went missing and was found under Mia’s pillow by Ray who went in to clean her room. When confronted by Sara and Ava, the young girl just looked at them and shrugged. The others all looked astonished as she was just like a young Sara, so stubborn.

“Blackstar” Mick grumbled. That was the start of the legendary nickname.

Back to the training, she was always a fast learner. She had learnt all Sara’s moves by the age of 15. The training sessions always lasted about 2 hours a day for many years. Part of her training when 15 years old was weapon based, Ava didn’t like the idea, but her wife had a valid reason to teach her as soon Mia would be on her own. The choose weapon that was used was the Blackstar, she would throw it with dead accuracy.

By the end of the learning, Mia was just as strong as both sets of parents. Part of Sara knew that she really didn’t take after her or Ava. She could only see a girl that had the attitude of Oliver and the looks of Felicity.

 

Over the years Mia would beg all the legends to go on a mission but none of them wanted to get on the wrong side of their Captain. Although her parents did promise she would be aloud on the less dangerous missions when she turned 14 years old.

Not long after her 14th birthday they had a small mission in the roman period. They were faced with a troll that was eating people who wanted to cross a bridge. Mia used her charm to become close to the troll and distract it as the other legends snuck behind it. For once it was an easy and successful mission.

As Mia got older she was aloud on more intense missions if it wasn’t alone and one of her mothers were there. This had a habit to cause disagreements between her and Ava, they would always argue and clash, of course it got worse as Mia got older. She as much as she loved Ava, she would favourite Sara at times as Sara was the most laid back. Although these days they all look and act like a happy but dysfunctional family.  

So that’s it, that’s the story up until now of Mia Smoak.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prepare yourselves for the last chapter!


	4. hardest goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here is the last chapter, please let me know what you thought of the fic

Sara lays in bed, next to her sleeping wife, she is riddled with thoughts of how tomorrow is going to go. This day was going to come, everyone knew it, but they had all gotten attached to Mia more than what they expected. They had watched her grow in to a fine young lady who was going to be 18 in a matter of hours. Sara’s thoughts lead her down a spiral of memories that lead to the day she first held Mia in her hands and the deal that her and Ava made. She really didn’t think they would get that attached to her, she even thought of them as her mom’s.

“Good morning, sweetie” Ava noticed her daughter walk in to the kitchen.

  
“Hey Mom” Mia greeted Ava with a beaming that just made her heart break, “Where’s mama?” looking around for Sara.

  
“She will be out in a minute, she didn’t have a goodnights sleep” Ava walks over the table to sit and have her breakfast, “anyway HAPPY BIRTHDAY, wow my little girl not so little anymore”

  
They both sat at the table to eat when Sara walked in, “Hey mama” Mia perks up. Sara lightly smiles at her wife and daughter. Secretly hurting Sara just made conversation with her family until everyone else woke up. One by one the legends came in to the kitchen/dining area they gave Mia a hug and her presents.

  
“We’ve got a mission to do but then we will celebrate your birthday and throw a massive party, okay?” Ava looks at Mia who nods.

With that everyone got up and headed out to the mission, the sooner they got that done the better. Nate stayed behind to do some teaching with Mia, everyone thought it was an excuse not to do a boring mission but for him he just wanted to spend the last day with his niece.

After about 2 hours everyone came back on to the ship, there was no time to stop for them as they wanted to dress the bridge up in birthday banners and balloons before Mia came out of her room.

As soon as they finished decorating Gideon called Mia on to the bridge, part of her thought she was going to be in trouble with her mom’s for not passing her history test, but as soon as she walked on to the bridge she was greeted with all her family and an over decorated room.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA” they all shouted.

They all huddled around Mia for a group hug, “Thank you everyone” She had never been happier.

Over the course of the night they partied hard from all eating way too much to killing songs on the karaoke. Charlie played pranks on people all night, including giving Sara salt instead of sugars. The whole from of misfits made sure that Mia’s last night was the best it could be. Mia watched most of her family get drunk while she was on the fizzy drinks, she truly hasn’t been this happy.

 

****

 

The next day, everyone was feeling it, not just from hangovers but the knowing of what would be happening in the matter of hours. Someone of the legends ate breakfast in silence and some didn’t even come out of their rooms. Mia didn’t want to even ask what was wrong with everyone, so she just sat at the table and ate with Zari, Charlie, Ray and Mick. None of which looked at Mia in the eyes.

Mia knew something was wrong but couldn’t put her finger on it. She got up and went to her room to study, before she could even get her books out she was called on to the bridge by her mothers. When she walked through the door she was greeted with the legends arguing with Sara and Ava. As soon as Zari noticed that Mia walked through the door she tapped Ava’s shoulder. With that all the legends turned to look at Mia.

“So, we have some explaining to do” Ava says with a rasp to her voice.

“What’s wrong, mom?”

“We have lied to you…” Sara trails off as tears escape her eyes, she looks at Ava “I can’t do this”

Ava sighs and takes a few steps closer to Mia, “18 years ago, two friends of Sara’s came to us for help, they had a little girl that was not even a week old in their arms. It was you. They had to do what was best for your safety, so they asked us to raise you and protect you…” before Ava could say another word Mia looked at the two women who she had thought were her parents with hurt and betrayal in her eyes.

“Gideon is this true?”

“I am afraid so, Miss Smoak” Gideon replied finally able to address the young girl by her real last name.

“How could you do this? My whole life is a lie… How do you expect me to forgive you?”

“Will don’t expected you to forgive us Mia, we thought it would be in your best interest not to tell you anything until you were ready” Sara finally composed herself to speak up.  
Mia rolls her eyes, “So all along I have been calling you both mom, and my Real mom isn’t even on the ship. WOW what’s worse is you know who they are.”

“Yes, I do, Ava doesn’t really know them. They are my friends, Oliver and Felicity. They were the ones to give you to us for your protection, if anyone knew who your father was then you would be a wanted child.” Sara tries not to raise her voice, but everyone knew by the tone of her voice that she was clearly getting agitated.

“So, you’re saying that my real parents didn’t want me?” there was a slight tone to Mia’s voice that hit both Ava and Sara in their heart because not only were they going to lose her for good but, she hated them.

For what seemed like hours they all argued about various things, they all had enough of the arguments. Mick stood up and put his beer down on the desk in the parlour, “ENOUGH” he grumbled finally had enough of everyone.

“Isn’t about time blondie and her wife send Blackstar to her real home” as he spoke he looked around for the memory flasher, that Ray had modified. They all looked at Mick as he is never the voice of reason but they all knew he was right. Mia just stood there in silence, not knowing what to say to anyone because she knew they wouldn’t listen to anything that she had to say.  
They all let the argument go and just remembered the had to let her go, the agreement was there for a reason.

 

****

  
“I would say never forget us, but you will, and I hate the fact you’ll forget me”

“what you trying to say Auntie Z? how will I forget you?” Zari doesn’t have the heart to say what would happen, Charlie quickly notices her girlfriend’s pain,

“make sure you show any wankers not to mess with you” She adds just to avoid the question that was asked to Zari.

“You are a really smart young woman, just remember everything I taught you” Ray of people was lost for words as he tried to say goodbye to his niece.

“Its been ace to see you grow,” Mia and Nate done their little secret handshake, “Keep being a little warrior, Blackstar.”

“Can you all explain what is going on?” Mia was getting worried what was going on.

“We are going to drop you off in Star City 2036, Felicity will be waiting at the drop off point for you, she knows the conditions. We made sure that she had detailed memories of how we raised you. I had programmed the memory flash so that you won’t remember us, your memories should be replaced so that everything you learnt from us was with your mo… Felicity and Oliver. It would be as if you had a normal life, not a legends life. Its what’s best for you.” Ray explained everything in a brief form.

“NO,” Mia shouting starting to crying, “I don’t want to leave, as much as you all lied to me I want to stay here with you.”

Sara walked up to Mia and put her hands on her cheeks, “Hey sweetie, please don’t cry because you’ll make me cry,” Sara fought back the tears as she wiped Mia’s away, “all your life we have done what’s best for you, as much as this hurts us all, you can’t stay here forever you need to go home.”

“This is my home!” at this point Mia continued to cry, while the words she just said shattered the hearts of every, they all sobbed in their own ways, even Mick had tears in his eyes. Sara just brought Mia in to a big embrace, “I’ll miss you little assassin, you’ll always have a place in my heart.” She didn’t want to let go but she didn’t want to watch her daughter walk away.

Ava pulled her self together to make sure she could say goodbye to Mia, she first hugged her and then let go to take one last look at her, “I will always love you, little one, you have maid me so happy and I’m so glad to be part of your life.”

“Captain Lance, we have arrived in Star City 2036” Gideon announced. Sara, Ava, Mick and a reluctant Mia walked to the cargo bay. The doors opened there was a figure of a person waiting outside.

“I can’t do this… I can’t watch you leave.” Sara shook her head and ran off trying to hold herself together until she got out of sight when she just broke in to a million pieces, the sobs echoed through the ship.

Ava looked at Mick, with that he lifted his hand with the memory flasher up, “goodbye Blackstar” he nodded then pressed the button.

In seconds Mia looked at Mick and Ava like they were complete strangers before turning around to greet her mother, Felicity, like she hadn’t seen her in a few weeks.

 

****

  
Losing a family member is hard, but knowing they are out there somewhere living their life not knowing who you are is harder. Not only did Sara and Ava lose the girl that they raised as their daughter, but the rest of the legends lost their niece.

  
For many years, Sara kept an eye on Mia’s life. Every so often she would ask Gideon to tell her about Mia, she found out Mia’s relationships the was she found her new family. All Sara want was for Mia’s happiness and that’s what she got.  
The legends finally disbanded in 2049, age got the better of them, Sara and Ava moved to Star City where they found themselves face to face with a familiar face that brought back memories, not only for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
